No, the people running the Dollhouse know what Alpha looks like. After a “composite event” where something clearly went very wrong with wiping the imprints, they wouldn’t just wipe him again and call it good, either.
So not FBI guy, either (though that might have been cool) – DeWitt and asshole security dude were looking at photos of FBI guy while discussing what a problem he is. No one mentioned how much he looked like Alpha.
The shadowy figure we’ve been shown is male, too. I also think I remember them referring to Alpha as “he.” I imagine that the doctor got a really good look at whoever carved up her face, as well, so I don’t think there was any confusion as to which Active went all homicidal maniac.
He’s got a bit part on Criminal Minds. It’s a bit creepy seeing someone who played a high school kid a mere eight years ago look like an out of shape 40ish dude.
Oh, and EC, realdolls are in uncanny vally and icky like hell. But I’m sure Wheadon is refering to Ibsen, even if it is really, really obvious.
Sure, realdolls are in uncanny valley and icky like hell. And the Actives in the Dollhouse, although not in uncanny valley, are also icky as hell – programmed sex slaves in some missions – so there’s a direct link there. Maybe Wheedon was referring to both the Dollhouse and Real Dolls. Frankly, RealDolls as technologically advanced sex toys that look enough like people to be in uncanny valley, are closer to the series than Ibsen’s characters. Well, so far.
I’ll keep watching (though I’m far from eager to see an episode about protecting a pop star from an obsessed fan). But I’m seeing some of Whedon’s weaknesses – plot holes, and dialogue at the wrong times – and not enough of his strengths. Early, though; maybe the characters will develop in interesting ways.
Holy crap you’re right lol. I was thinking he was the surfer dude guy from that new cheerleading movie.
I thought the B story was better this week, but the A story was better last week. Show definitely has some growing pains. I find the mytharc stuff and the interpersonal character moments much more interesting than the mission/personality of the week this time. I did like Echo’s two personalities last week though. But I definitely think Fox’s attempts to make the show more actiony and episodic are causing the more interesting elements of the premise and characters to suffer.
I’m having trouble figuring out what they are going to do with Tahmoh which is a shame because I love the actor. But how long can they possibly stretch out his trying to find the dollhouse story? And what do they do with him once he has? Does he become one of the handlers?
But at least he is getting somewhat fleshed out. Right now we have some sense of Echo, despite her inherently empty nature - both through her imprints and through some flashbacks. We’re getting a sense of the handler guy. To a lesser extent we’re seeing some of the programmer and the bitchy security guy. And we haven’t really gotten much out of the CEO lady or the doctor, which must be the writing since I’ve seen great stuff from Amy Acker in other shows. Most importantly, we haven’t seen the other actives yet except as background scenery. I guess there are 5? since there are five beds, and 2 besides Echo who have been promoted as regulars in the ads. I hope we get to see them soon for real - I don’t think Eliza can carry the show completely on her own. And I hope we get some more out of the characters in general, usually the characters are some of Joss’s best stuff! And humor - where’s the humor? Another Joss staple missing. I don’t expect the absurdity of Angle/Buffy/Dr Horrible certainly - this is a more serious show/premise, but even Firefly had a lot more humor and that had a serious premise / realistic setting.
We did get a brief shot of one of the other actives leading the raid on the kidnap victim’s house in the first episode. I’d consider that a bit more than background scenery, but just barely.
The flashback to Alpha’s killing spree indicates that there’s more than 5. It started with 5 of them being put to bed, and then we later saw a number of other dead actives in the showers with Echo left as a survivor. So it seems like there’s more than one set of beds and more than 5 actives.
Anyway, I really hope they’ve got a trick or three up their sleeves to keep things interesting. I can imagine getting bored really quickly with a main character whose only hook is disposable personalities. The only way I can see the show working longterm is if they really push the angle of Echo developing and keeping her own identity. They’ve obviously hinted a bit with the glitchy flashbacks during the missions and her “shoulder to the wheel” gesture after being wiped, but I don’t know if they’ll be willing to take the risk of elevating that to a major aspect of her character.
Who’s to say that *anyone *who works for the Dollhouse is a real person? Every real person is a security risk, and it can be so hard to find good help these days. Why wouldn’t the Dollhouse manufacture its own employees?
So, remember how they said at the end that Psycho Bow-Hunting Woodsmen Dude’s identity and background information was all fake?
I’m betting that he’s an Active who was programmed by Alpha, because he stole the technology (or figured it out). And Alpha sent him for the express purpose of “testing” Echo somehow.
Ah somehow I missed the clue that it was an active an not just a regular member of the goon squad. The only active I noticed standing out at all was the geisha girl.
I didn’t see the first episode, but I’m assuming that Echo was the 5th active because I assume the other dead ones were: Bravo, Charlie, and Delta.
Assuming there are four new ones to fill the five spaces, that would make them: Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, and India.
Obviously some actives get cool names like Echo, some get boring ones like Mike and Charlie, and some poor saps get Golf and Uniform. But the beauty is of course that they don’t care about their lame codenames because they’re blank slates.
Well, maybe Alpha has been imprinted with either the “master of disguise” skillset or the “plastic surgeon” skillset. Of course, there’s the small matter of how did he assume an FBI identity complete with people who seem to recognize him, and why doesn’t he remember the dollhouse. (He was imprinted and disguised as an existing real person?)
Of course, this assumes dolls can take a longterm imprint. There may be an expiration date on the imprints, which is why dolls are only rented and not sold. It would also explain why they have to hurry Echo back to the chair at the end of the day and why the dollhouse isn’t staffed entirely with imprinted employees. (Although I see no reason the jobs of handler and doctor could not still be done by Actives.)
Has the show said anything about how long the imprints last?
Echo stumbled into the imprinting room during the “first time” for Sierra. If the geeky guy was telling the truth and the organization named them in order, Sierra would have been the 19th.
If the other three in Echo’s dorm are dead (killed by Alpha), then there’s maybe three dorms and 15 actives.
I don’t remember anything about how long the imprints last.
There is a casting spoiler in the below black section in case anyone hasn’t caught the news yet.
Alan Tudyk.net and Whedonesque have confirmed that he will be playing Alpha, so good guess! I am really looking forward to that.
My WAG, for what it is worth: - Alpha definately set up Eliza with the bow hunter encounter. I think that we will find out that the shoulder reference is actually from Echo’s real past and that the Alpha active has figured out that the original wiped personality can be “jarred” back through an effective combination of drugs and real trauma - hence the reference to the adreneline/heart rate and fear monitoring. I have a feeling that the dollhouse is a short term thing - and will wind up in the second (hopefully second) season moving towards the “buffy rebels against the watchers” type storyline with Echo leaving the dollhouse to team up with the FBI dude. I’m not certain Alpha is the big bad here - I think the dollhouse has to turn out to be the evil in the story, because that it the only way Joss can hold true to what has thus far been a fairly secure feminist agenda in his long-term story telling. If he is about woman empowerment through story telling, this is how he can pull it off.
Also, I’m really disheartened by the way this series is rolling out, and the criticisms of it. I think we should have had a battlestar type launch, with a long miniseries of back to back episodes to introduce the mythos. The problem with Joss is that you really need to be about 12 episodes in before you can acurately assess the narrative he is setting up. We don’t have enough right now, and this is going to be a problem, because unless you are a Joss fan, there may not be enough to bring in a new audience. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we’ll get a season two, because I am really digging the show. I think it has a lot of promise.
I agree this is the likely direction for Wheedon to move in – I can hardly see him going with all the uses to which the Actives are put without at some point moving the story toward destroying the agency that is using them so. What interests me is how subtly or in what roundabout way Wheedon will bring this about. If done clumsily, it would make for a boring series that I will rapidly lose interest in, but Wheedon is one of the few writers who might be able to handle is in some very creative way that is suprising and interesting. I hope so, at any rate.
I watched both shows again tonight, and in the first show Echo walks away from MotorcycleMan in what appears to be an agreed-upon end of the date. It was a perfect weekend that ended about 5am.
Whether that happens because it’s all the time MotorcycleMan can afford, or 48 hours is the length of the imprint is anyone’s guess right now. I didn’t see any other implications the imprint would wear off.
